Snippets
by SylverEyes
Summary: This and that--they've been started but never finished. Why not have a place to air out my dirty laundry?
1. More or Less

Taking a leaf out of Abbie's book and beginning a started-but-not-finished-fics collection. And maybe if you guys see something you like/have ideas/I get inspired again, I can finish or continue some of these. Who even knows. Enjoy?

**Summary: **Beast Boy and Robin friendship in an alternate universe. Bonding over girl problems? Yes, always. :D

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Lightning screamed outside the window, followed by a loud rumble of thunder. It was accompanied by the pounding of rain of the rooftop. The skies flashed brilliantly again, and thunder traveled in its wake once more. The howling wind was almost buried underneath all the other noise, but it could be seen tugging at the branches and leaves of trees. The foliage surrounding the apartment building drooped down with the weight of falling water. On the sidewalk below, people scurried about their business, heads down and umbrellas up, not meeting anyone's eyes as they walked. Cars, buses and taxis zoomed by in the street, occasionally sending a wall of water shooting up at some unfortunate soul in the wrong place at the wrong time as they drove through a puddle. At the restaurant across the street, people huddled under the awning, waiting to be admitted to their dining area. It seemed to exude warmth, as the coziness of the indoor décor could be partially seen through the windows.

On top of the raging storm outside, there were sounds in the apartment building, which helped build the whole thing up into quite a racket. In the suite above, children were screaming and running through the rooms, which through the ceiling sounded like a herd of elephants stampeding across the floors with monkeys shrieking in the background. The couple below had a bad habit of turning up the television to ridiculously loud volumes so that no one could hear what they were actually doing in their room through the thin walls. It didn't fool any of them one bit, but annoyingly, this was one of those times. Across the hall was the lady who refused to get a job that paid more than the telemarketer one she had now. She was the one who owned enough animals to start her own zoo; three cats, four dogs, a ferret or two, a cult of rabbits and a psychotic gerbil. He was the one she called on to take care of them when she was away from home. For some reason, he always said yes. The cats were hell bent on eating a ferret or rabbit, and the dogs were scared witless of the gerbil. One particular Chihuahua yelped late into the night, and despite numerous complaints she wouldn't give him away. On either side of him were the man and the woman who continuously broke up and got together. The man had been kicked out of their shared apartment one day after a screaming row, and had immediately rented the one two doors down from his on-again-off-again girlfriend. The two were always either yelling at each other or snuggling together, but everyone in the building was now used to seeing the man dragging his things down the hall twice a month. There was an ongoing bet in the lobby which the doorman kept tabs on for how long they would be staying together _this _time. During the times they were exes, they would exchange heckling phone calls that always followed the same pattern:

"Oh, I'm sorry; I must have called the wrong number."

"I'm sick and tired of this, Lindsay (or Jackson, depending on who was calling)! I don't need to you bothering me while I'm trying to start a new life for myself!"

"Like you could get anywhere without me. You depend on me for everything, even when we're not together!"

"You see! _This _is the reason that I broke up with you! You think that the universe revolves around you, and I need someone who can pay attention to the needs of other people!"

"_You _broke up with _me_?! I was the one who ended it; I couldn't take any more of your straitjacket views on _everything_!"

"Straitjacket views, huh? That's it, we're over for good!"

This was the week that the two were broken up, and their yelling at no one in particular was grating on his ears on top of everything else. Even without the thunderstorm there would have been enough noise for him to wish that he was deaf, but with it you couldn't concentrate on anything else. All that Gar wanted to do was make himself a nice cup of hot chocolate and settle down with his laptop to watch a movie with headphones on. However, he was having some problems measuring out the appropriate amount of mix what with one of the older children above him stomping on the floor with all his might and shouting, "I can't hear anything! Everyone shut up!" with mantra-like consistency.

Gar put the mix down and rubbed at his temples, glancing around his own apartment. It was quite messy, not that it was ever very different. Clothes were strewn across the floor whether they were dirty or clean. He would sniff them as he picked them up to determine whether they were wearable or not. His moth-eaten couch sat across from a television, which whenever he watched it, he could swear that the picture was tilting down to the right. Blankets and pillows were set up on the couch cushions, as Gar refused to sleep in his bed after that one fateful day where he came back from work and all of a sudden there was a large stain on the green sheets. He asked around the complex, but no one seemed to know anything. The couple downstairs did look awfully suspicious when he asked them, but he had never been able to prove anything. He always made sure to double check that his door was locked from then on.

Objects that made the place homier were scattered here and there. All the letters that Rachel had ever written him were pinned up to his corkboard next to the kitchen table. He was expecting another one in reply to the one that he had sent any day now. Tickets from a movie that he and Victor had seen together the other weekend still lay on the white table itself, and he was waiting on his friend to return a video game he had loaned him. Pictures of himself and Kori were everywhere; the girl loved to take them, and he refused to throw any of them out, although his favorite was one of Kori alone. A close-up of her tan face that was lit up with a gorgeous smile and showed all of her pearly whites. She complained that it made her cheeks look pudgy; Gar told her that he wasn't getting rid of it no matter what she said. He also thought that he had one of Kori's pink sweaters in his closet somewhere, and if he was honest with himself, he would admit that he had worn it the other day when the heat had broken. A professional photograph of Tara sat on his bedside table. It had been taken before she had let herself go- the way that he liked to remember her. Next to that was a picture of his parents, one of the only ones that he had been able to keep.

It was a three room apartment, with his bed shoved into the corner of the living room. It was as though someone had built the two rooms but forgotten to build up a wall between them. His dresser and closet were all in plain view from the couch where people would sit to watch TV. He also had a few other pieces of furniture, a coffee table, a bookshelf, a chair. His bathroom was cramped but actually sanitary, and the kitchen was almost bare, as he always put off going grocery shopping until he absolutely needed to. His music sat in piles on the floor that he had organized, but hadn't actually put onto any shelves yet. His laptop computer was currently sitting on the coffee table, open and ready to begin playing his movie of choice; tonight it was _Young Frankenstein_. Hey, just because he didn't like black and white movies as a rule didn't mean he couldn't enjoy the classics.

A headache was starting behind his eyes. Gar growled, took a deep breath, and managed to scoop some of the hot chocolate mixture from the container into his mug. Sighing with relief, the young man stirred it in, thinking that he would finally get some relief from his crazy life for a few hours where he could laugh at Gene Wilder and Igor. He picked up the chipped mug, smiling reminiscently when he saw the Wayne Enterprises logo on it. It had been a gift from Dick, who had handed it to him with a shrug. _"You'll need _something _to remember me by."_

He had been joking, of course, but Gar took it very seriously. And he had used it whenever he needed something to drink.

Gar was found a minute later settling onto the couch with a white fuzzy blanket wrapped around his shoulders and the warm mug in his hands. He put the DVD in and waited for it to load, sipping the steaming drink and not bothering to wipe away the mustache that came with it.

The loud buzzing normally would have interrupted someone in a relaxed state like that, but if Gar hadn't developed the habit of listening for the buzzer, he wouldn't have heard it at all. The noise around him was loud enough to drown anything else out. As it was, the young man rolled his eyes and heaved himself off the cushions, slouching over to the intercom. He listened to the insistent buzzing for a few more seconds before answering. "Yeah, hello?"

"_Let me in!"_ the voice demanded through the crackly speaker as soon as he took his finger off the button. Gar chuckled softly to himself, recognizing the voice and contemplating leaving his friend out there to weather the storm. Quickly, his compassion got a hold of him and he buzzed the young man up, drinking from his mug as he leaned against the wall next to the door in preparation for the person who was coming in. He dejectedly let the thought that he wasn't going to be able to watch his movie in peace tonight float across his mind.

In no more than two minutes there was a knock on his door. Gar immediately opened it to be faced with a soaking wet Dick, standing there in his dripping coat and with his black hair plastered onto his forehead. His blue eyes grinned at him, matching the one on his face. But Gar could see that it didn't really reach the depths of his orbs. Not completely, at least.

The taller man forced his way into the apartment and shed his coat, throwing it on the floor carelessly. He turned around to face Gar, who was scowling slightly, and said with somewhat of a laugh in his voice, "Man, I've missed this place."

"Yeah, you would be the only one." Gar replied scathingly, shutting the door and cutting off some of the noise that had been floating through from elsewhere in the apartment building. He eyeballed Dick for a minute, taking in the less-than-cared-for hair and the mud-stained jeans. With a sigh even heavier than the one that had escaped his mouth earlier, he headed for the kitchen, knowing that his friend was going to need a drink tonight.

"What are you doing here, man?" he asked, shuffling through the cabinets to see if there was anything that Dick would be willing to drink. He even surprised himself by being so direct, but he was more shocked at just how disappointed he was that he wouldn't get the 'quiet evening' that he had been planning. But when it came to Dick, he couldn't really expect anything else. The young man showed up at the most inconvenient times, and always with a whole lot of problems on his back.

But if there was one thing that Gar could count on, it was Dick being even _more_ direct. He may not admit to his problems, but he would tell you the situation in an instant. He doesn't want any help, but he'll let you know what's going on. It was a double-edged blade that Gar had been living with for quite some time now. Victor had been too; the two of them talked about it, but couldn't figure out a way to fix these problems permanently. They would just have to live with it for now. And live with Dick.

"Kori kicked me out." He said, shrugging, although it was clear that this was part of a bigger problem, because it didn't cut into his eyes as deeply as the real root would have. Dick leaned against the counter backwards, watching Gar shuffle around the place, opening and closing cabinets and repeatedly returning to the refrigerator only to glare angrily into its depths. The young man shook his head, splattering water all over the tiled floor.

Overlooking that, as there were places far more unsanitary in his apartment, Gar eventually pulled out another mug and the mix for hot chocolate. He turned to his friend, holding them up, "All I've got is this."

Dick nodded. "That's fine."

As the water was being heated in the microwave the two chatted about light things, easy things. Dick informed Gar that his job at Wayne Enterprises wasn't nearly as entertaining as it had been a month ago when Bruce had been overwhelmed by business meetings with other companies from foreign countries. He had enjoyed watching him attempt to juggle all of them at once. Bruce had done so admirably, much to Dick's disappointment ("The dude's your father!" "Doesn't mean he's not a prick."). Now they trudged on through daily life at the company, and Dick found himself playing computer games more and more often when people weren't looking ("You've infected me." "Score!"). Gar related the amusing incident when the other day, instead of calling, the girl from the odd couple, Lindsay, had marched over to Jackson's door with an empty bottle to 'borrow' something or other, and pretended that she had forgotten that it was he who lived there ("Those two are still going at it?" "Are you really surprised?"). It had been such a nice change from the norm of screaming across telephone lines so loudly that they could hear each other without the phones, that everyone had peeked out of their doors to watch the escapade ("Highlight of your life, Gar." "You bet."). The weather came up ("What a nightmare!" "For you? You're not the one who lives _here_, Dick."), and Dick tried to start a conversation about politics, but Gar refused to even look at him until he dropped it.

Minutes later found them both sitting at the round kitchen table, sipping their drinks and trying hard not to broach the subject that brought Dick to Gar's apartment in weather like this. They could simply not talk about it at all, and leave things be, as they were instinctively inclined to do, but they had tried that once, and when Dick had gone back, he had merely exploded again. That time had ultimately led to a break up, and it was an unspoken agreement that they would never ignore it again, no matter how much they wanted to.

Looking down into his mug and finding that he was out of hot chocolate, Gar raised his head and met Dick's sky blue eyes. With nothing to distract him with and put off the conversation, the young man shook his head and resigned himself to this.

"So… Kori, huh?" he leaned back casually in his chair and scrutinized his friend's reaction.

Dick didn't so much as flinch. Gar frowned, but waited for an answer. "Yeah, Kori." Was all he received.

"She kicked you out. So, what exactly was the reason that you walked all the way to my apartment in the middle of a thunderstorm?"

The black-haired man looked sharply at his friend sitting across from him, but evidently he must have seen something in Gar's expression, for he relaxed. "Kori found out that Rae and I used to have a thing…" he trailed off hopefully. Obviously, even though he was seeking refuge in his friend's place, it was too soon for him to want to talk about it yet. This did not deter Gar, who simply crossed his arms and continued questioning, although now with a slightly puzzled expression on his face.

"Why would Kori get so pissed about that? She's so laid back, and you guys are both friends with Rae…"

Dick shrugged, averting his gaze. "Well… I sort of let it slip that it was during the very beginning of my thing with Kori." Gar's look changed from inquisitive to an odd mixture of bored and knowing, and waited for his friend to continue. "Rae didn't know, of course, and I had to tell her that so Kori wouldn't get on a plane and fly halfway across the country to beat her up. But when I told her that, she went ballistic on me. Told me that I didn't care about our relationship, or about our friend—she totally flipped when it came to Rae, kept saying that I was degrading our friend by leading her on and wondering what Rae could have ever seen in me—and then she accused me of not caring about her at all!"

Gar's eyebrows drew down and together thunderously, but Dick didn't seem to notice. It was hard to tell whether Gar was angry with Kori or with Dick; most likely, it was both. But he said nothing.

Dick gulped down the last of his hot chocolate quickly. "So, at this point I'm starting to go 'shit, shit, shit, shit' in my head, and Kori's freaking out on me. So I try telling her that _of course_ I care about her and _of course_ I want to make this work, blah, blah, blah. And normally this leads to girls calming down, right? I mean, it's supposed to, right? You talk to 'em a bit more and it turns off the water works. Not this time, man. That, me saying that I cared about her, made her go flipping insane. She went off about how I never say that 'I love her' and crap like that. What was I supposed to say to that? If I start saying I love you then, she accuses me of just saying it right then so that she would believe me. If I start yelling at her, she does the whole 'I'm not the villain here' turn, and I become the bully."

It looked as though Gar wanted to say something, but stopped himself, for Dick gave him a glance before continuing with his story. "But apparently I can't just stand there and not say anything either, because while I'm trying to figure out what to say so that she won't go over the edge, she thinks I've been quiet for too long, grabs my coat from the rack next to her and chucks it at me, screaming that if I don't care about her or our relationship then I can find another place to live." He shrugged, swirling the dregs of his drink and listening to the sloshing noises. "So, I came here. You're closest."

Gar's green eyes were closed at this point, probably in exasperation. That headache that had been starting before returned full throttle, making him grit his teeth. The young man cared for his friend, he really did, but sometimes Dick was an idiot. However, he mostly likely didn't need to hear that right then. Better to be more casual and supportive of him; Kori had never kicked him out before and it looked like he was taking it very hard.

"Okay…" a pause. "Do you think she'll take you back?"

The first note of real panic intruded into Dick's calm and cool features, and he fidgeted anxiously. "What do you mean?"

Gar groaned, this time out loud, and stared at his friend. "Look at your track record, man! What do you _really_ think your chances are of her letting you back into her life?"


	2. Blackfire's Pendant

Oh gosh, here's another one. This is one that I wrote a long time ago and probably stinks, but hey, why not. It's a Raven and Starfire bonding fic, and a little something that has been nagging at me ever since I saw this episode. Because yes, I love Blackfire. I think she's awesome. And if I get bricks thrown at me because of that, well... I can take it. XD

Enjoy?

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Raven sat up in her bed, looking around her room.

It was almost completely dark, but her amethyst eyes easily saw the outlines of everything sitting around the walls. all the collectibles she had gathered over the years. Some didn't mean anything to her, but she had liked the look or feel of them. Others were artifacts that her mother or the monks of Azarath had given to her, and she had kept them in her room for as long as she could remember.

Nothing was out of place. Raven listened, straining her ears, but everything was quiet. Her legs shifted under the blankets, and the sheets rustled, a familiar sound so that it registered only as white noise. The books sat silently on their shelves, staring back at her with their solemn faces, having no opinions.

Raven wondered why she was awake. She wasn't particularly upset by that fact, but not knowing wasn't something that she could live with and the dark bird pulled her blankets farther up on her legs, pondering the answer.

She often woke up in the middle of the night. It was nothing unusual. In fact, Raven barely went an entire night without waking up at some point. The causes were as varied as could be, and sometimes it just happened for no reason at all, but the empath was used to it by now.

A few times it was because of her insomnia. Sleeping the entire night through had never been an option on Azarath. There was something about her home planet that made one be compelled to stay up late and watch the stars in the sky. It had become a habit that she had picked up from simply sitting with her mother.

Raven had taken to drinking tea whenever she woke up for no reason. Making herself a cup and standing at the large windows, just watching the stars would calm her down, and sometimes she could get to sleep afterwards.

Of course, the stars were nowhere near as brilliant as they were on Azarath. And Earth only had one moon compared to their four, but Raven enjoyed it quietly anyways. The distance could make her feel disconnected from her previous home, but the empath supposed that this was a good thing. The less she thought about Azarath the less she would miss it.

As a demon child, Raven had been excluded by other children her age. Being ostracized was comfortable to her, even if it wasn't pleasant. But Azarath was where she had grown up; where the monks who had protected her lived; where her mother would hold her in her arms and hum a tuneless song.

However, it didn't feel like she was waking up for no reason this time. Raven was tired; it had been a complicated day. She didn't want to face thinking about any of that; it had hurt her through a friend.

That was something else that Raven was used to. She wasn't surprised when a hurt overflowed into her state of being; it was part of being an empath.

That was the cause a lot of the time; Raven was an empath. Although it sometimes irritated her to no end that her friends couldn't seem to block their feelings off and give her some peace of mind, she had gotten used to it. In fact, she had gotten so used to feeling her friends' emotions that when they weren't around for her to feel she couldn't seem to get comfortable.

At night it was the worst. Being asleep, the teens couldn't wall up their emotions even if they tried to, and all the waves of feeling poured around the dam that she could sometimes erect to keep them out. Unsuppressed, Raven could see how her friends felt at night. On occasion, her teammates were so loud that she couldn't sleep, and the dark girl would stay up and determine how they were feeling, just to pass the night hours. They couldn't hide anything from her, and Raven would be able to tell if they needed a smile the next day or not.

Dreams also disturbed her. The tone of a dream could change so quickly that one feeling would barely register before being swept away in the swell of another one. It was at times like these that Raven wondered which feelings were hers, and which were from an outside source. It bothered her that she couldn't tell, but then again, knowing that her friends were dreaming, and _alive, _sometimes then even the worst dreams could lull her to sleep like a lullaby.

Raven prodded at her conscious, but could easily gauge that it was not because her friends were not around to project their emotions.

Cyborg's were flitting around on the edges of the bird's psychic, in and out with an effect that almost made her dizzy if she tried to focus on them for too long. A few minutes with eyes closed and listening with her mentality, Raven discovered that Cyborg's dream was one of hope. It lifted her spirits to know that tonight he wasn't suffering from nightmares.

It was very unusual to find Cyborg feeling very neutral about something, even while he was asleep. His dreams were to the extremes, just as his moods during the day were. Cyborg kept up a happy and fun front during daylight hours, but at night sometimes he was tortured with the worst dreams. He lived again the accident that changed him for life, and smelled the acrid burning of a laboratory.

When this occured, Raven wanted to find him and sit with him, but something always stopped her when she had just about made up her mind to do so. It was a private affair that Raven was sure Cy wouldn't want her to be a witness to, and having her support, while showing that she cared, would embarrass the young man more than he needed to be.

Raven moved away from Cyborg, across to someone else's head, searching for whoever was sleeping, and how well.

Beast Boy was sitting in the middle of her mind, settled and floating in place. He must have been completely exhausted from the day to be barely dreaming at all. The green changeling sometimes had terrible dreams where all of them would be in immense pain, or dying and he couldn't save them.

The days after these tormenting nights, Raven held back on her teasing of him. He needed a break. It was her way of telling him that they would never die on him, and he would be able to save them if need be. Everyone knew that Beast Boy was much smarter and stronger than they sometimes gave him credit for, but the boy was extremely self-conscious. He was insecure, and needed to hear it out loud that they would be there for him if he needed them to be, that they wouldn't leave him.

He knew it, in the back of his mind, but if he didn't hear it out loud, he couldn't believe it. Raven had discovered that this was part of the reason Beast Boy talked so much. The teen did like conversation, but he could speak to any one of them and drive them up the wall with all the chatter, to the point where they would snap at him.

And although it might hurt him superficially, he would eventually get over it. Those waspish comments that were meant to sting assured Beastboy that, yes, they were there with him. It wasn't his imagination, he did, in fact, have company.

Again Raven lifted her psychic away from that one of her friends and focused on a different one. She supposed that in this way she wasn't so different than Beast Boy; perhaps this was her way of making sure that her teammates were still with her. She had grown up with people turning away from her, and keeping their distance.

She was getting used to people constantly being around her, and (this had surprised her to no end once she had realized it) she was beginning to like having them with her. It was something that she had never been able to experience before. It was foreign, filling, and unpredictable.

Liking something unpredictable was growing on her too.

Raven found that Robin was sleeping fitfully. His mind was being haunted by glimpses of villains they were attempting to catch, or leads that he had to put to sleep for the night before he could do the same.

The empath could almost feel him tossing and turning in his sleep. She shook her head and sighed ever so slightly, brow furrowed with worry. What could she do to ease his complicated nights? Nothing that wouldn't be her invading his privacy. Raven had vowed she would never do that to anyone.

It upset her that her leader almost never got a good night's sleep. But the two barely ever spoke during the day. She doubted that he noticed her much at all. And even though she paid so much attention to all of them, in her own way, they didn't return the favor.

That was alright; having them there was a big enough change for now. They hadn't been a team for all that long, and were still getting to know each other. The others seemed to have bonded much more quickly than she, but that was something else she didn't mind. She wasn't a very social person to start with.

Raven's large eyes opened. Once more she studied her room, but the empath hadn't missed anything the first time. Something was still tugging at the edges of her mind, and it was difficult to tell what.

A soft pale hand reached up and brushed a stray strand of purple hair behind her ear. Her mind reached out one last time to search for her last friend. Raven anticipated Starfire's dreams; happy and lovely, or falling, falling.

Raven wasn't sure why falling was such a fear for Star; she wasn't sure what she was falling from either. It could be that a wave of disappointment would drown her while she fell, but from herself or others it was impossible to tell. Other times it could be a sadness that would fall softly down with her.

And the whispers in her and their teammates' voices would follow her.

They could terrify Raven, who wasn't even the recipient of the dream. The words would be whisked away as soon as she woke up, leaving only vague imprints of what they had been. The empath had to resist teleporting herself to Starfire's room and hugging her back to sleep.

That wasn't her style, and she did beat down the impulse. Raven wouldn't know how to go about doing something like that anyways.

But tonight, where Starfire's dreams would normally be clinging in her head, there were none to be found. Raven felt a jolt and sat up straighter, coming fully awake now. Her friend wasn't in her bed, and wasn't dreaming. It was no wonder Raven couldn't get to sleep. Star's dreams were just as loud as any of the boys', sometimes louder, and not having her there was akin to missing a limb.

The empath blinked and extended her reach, feeling her way through the dark.

Finally, there was a surge of emotion on the very edge of her mind. Raven almost collapsed back down with relief (although she would never admit it to anyone). The alien girl was still here; she just happened to be on the roof tonight.

Raven couldn't begrudge anyone a nighttime therapy session; she had enough of them herself. The girl couldn't help being a little annoyed that Starfire wasn't sleeping though. Without all four of her friends snoring in their beds there was no way she would be getting any shut-eye.

Focusing her entire psychic on Starfire, Raven realized that she wasn't feeling any of Star's usual waking emotions. There was sadness, fear, regret, a little bit of anger, and sympathy, all mixing together as one. But, other than that, stronger than all of those combined, was a love that shocked Raven to the bone.

Unable to inference the source or what it was directed to from the power of the feeling, Raven chose to do something that was extremely unlike her. She slipped out from under the covers, stood up and teleported herself through the levels to the roof.

Once there, the empath took a moment to enjoy the view. It was a clear, and slightly cold, night in Jump City. Stars twinkled at them merrily, but cold in their disdain for those bound to the Earth. The moon was completely hidden; it was a new moon that night.

Waves crashed against the rocks stories below, creating a soothing sound. A slow wind plucked up the courage to blow, sliding across Raven's skin and raising a few involuntary goose bumps on her arms.

The alien was sitting on the side of the t-shaped structure with her legs dangling over the edge. Her arms were lying in her lap, hands clasped together and around something that Raven couldn't see. Starfire's eyes were tilted upwards, staring at the stars just as Raven did on those occasions where she couldn't sleep.

As a shadow, Raven made her way over to Starfire and sat close by her side, joining her in the exhilarating sport of star-gazing.

Normally, the alien would jump and gasp, and perhaps laugh at Raven's sudden silent appearance. This night she did nothing, not even tear her green eyes away from the tapestry above them to glance in the empath's direction. She was absorbed in what she was thinking.

"I did not know that you too liked to come up here and watch the colorful gases burn," Starfire suddenly remarked with a straight face. Now, her head turned to look at Raven's profile, which was just as stoic and serious as she.

Raven answered her in an almost casual voice, "I don't." her fingers tightened around her cloak, but she did not move it. It had looked as though she might wrap it around Starfire for a moment, but she had stopped herself.

The dark girl crossed her legs, balancing easily on the dangerous ledge. "I came up here because of you." She stated bluntly.

A look of concern crossed Star's face, but it was gone soon after, completely uncharacteristic of her. "Oh," she said in reply, turning back to their stars.

Another minute of silence passed between the two. It wasn't an uncomfortable one, but rather one where neither feels like they are obligated to talk or to walk away. The silence comforted them, in an empty kind of way.

"I am feeling bad for my sister," Starfire admitted quietly, ducking her head. The silence was broken, and the moment gone, but it would be held forever in both of their hearts as something that wouldn't be, couldn't be, rivaled by anything else.

Raven nodded. It was logical, in an illogical sort of way.

Blackfire had been taken away only the day before, and the wound was still stinging in all of the titans. Starfire's older sister had wormed her way into all of their hearts somehow, even Raven's unshakable one. She was charming, friendly, and fun. But to lie to them and purposefully deceive them so that Starfire would be taken instead was unforgivable.

Blackfire had gotten what she had deserved in the end, and was taken away by the police who wanted her. Raven hadn't known what to think after that, but if she had felt so confused, it couldn't have been anything to what Blackfire's younger sister had been feeling.

Star cautiously looked up, meeting Raven's purple eyes in an intense stare. The empath knew that Robin had talked to Starfire earlier this day. He had said as much, even though her leader hadn't told her any more, saying it was private business between them and needn't be discussed.

"I know," Raven simply answered. She could now guess that all these emotions that were tumbling around inside of Starfire were from, and for, Blackfire. Once that had been established, everything else fell into place easily.

Starfire closed her eyes, her grip tightening around something in her hands. Raven glanced down, and widened her eyes a bit in surprise when she saw the brilliant green pendant that Blackfire had given her sister clutched tightly in her hands.

Raven blinked. "I thought that Robin threw that away." She commented. She had seen Robin throw it away herself, and Raven always trusted her eyes, no matter what anyone told her to the contrary.

Star did not attempt to hide the object. She actually loosened her hands and held it up. The starlight played softly against all the sides, making it glow with an emerald tint, and lighting up Starfire's face.

Blackfire had been correct; it did match Star's eyes.

"I went back to retrieve it," Starfire confided in Raven. "I could not stand to see it lying on the ground there. So I brought it back." There was a hesitant pause where the girl was wondering what she should say next. "I… I have been sleeping with it under my pillow."

This shocked Raven, but not as much as she would have thought. Everyone had their secrets, things that they would rather not admit to anyone, even close friends. This was probably one of Starfire's; and it was no wonder that she wouldn't tell Robin about it.

The dark bird had her own secrets. She would not be sharing them with anyone; not as long as she could help it. But it warmed her up inside a bit, that Starfire trusted her enough to tell her this. The two didn't get along famously most of the time.

The stars must do something to the both of them.

Raven moved closer to Starfire. "Okay," was all she said in response to the confession. Her tone said that she neither approved nor disapproved; it was not her decision to make, and it was not her necklace to make the decision about.

Star studied Raven. It was impossible to tell what she was thinking; her face was as blank as a sheet of paper, although her eyes reflected the sky beautifully. Starfire sighed and looked in the same direction as her teammate.

"I love my sister… even after everything she has done to me…" and here the pendant went around her neck to rest on her chest, "I still love her."

Raven's lips turned ever so slightly upward at this. "Of course you do." She turned her entire upper body to look at Starfire, who met her gaze steadily, with a slightly puzzled expression on her pretty features. "She's your sister."

Starfire smiled too. One hand went around the green gem that hung around her throat, holding it tightly almost like she was afraid that it would disappear if she ever let go. Raven watched this happen out of the corner of her eye.

A second later found Raven's cloak partially around each girl, and their eyes, green and purple, were staring at the sky where a sister had recently departed.

And, grudgingly admitted, she would be missed.


	3. Hex

This was something I started a long time ago and still like the idea of, but just never really got the motivation or inspiration to finish. Basically, it's after the series end, and Robin is trying to figure out what the heck he wants to do with Kid Flash and Jinx, and recruits Raven to help who isn't all that happy about it. I hope you guys enjoy this one, because it really isn't finished. Not even close.

---

"No, I won't do it."

It was more than just a statement. It was a flat out refusal, a denial, salt in an open wound. Giving the answer 'no' to a question like that was incomprehensible to him, and it was staggering that she would even consider it an option when it had been he who had asked the question in the first place.

"Raven, you need to do this for the team. I'm not asking much. Just a few days or so, since she knows so much already."

The two figures were at the counter in the kitchen. One was leaning on one side, with his back to the refrigerator, and a mug of warm liquid in one of his hands. His eyes bored flaming holes through his companion, but she did not take any notice. She was sitting on a stool on the other side, her own cup in hand, amethyst eyes glued to the newspaper that was opened to a middle section.

"If you want her to be trained so badly, why don't you do it yourself, hmm?" her eyes lifted to meet his, and there was a tinge of annoyance in them. "I'm not going to train her, Robin." Her tone made it perfectly clear that this was the end of their discussion.

But Robin would not put the matter to sleep.

"Jinx needs to be trained by somebody. She just joined the team, and we can't go gallivanting off to stop a criminal when she isn't prepared. Who knows what could happen. We don't want anyone to get hurt."

Raven put the newspaper down on the chic, smooth counter top and listened to it crinkle and settle for a moment before responding. "Then why doesn't she go join another team? I'm sure that someone would be willing to have her." She pointed out, irritated that her friend wouldn't let the subject go.

"There's been a crime jump in Jump City, you know that," Said Robin. He would have chuckled at his phrasing, but this was clearly not the time, and Raven would listen to him all the less if he started laughing in the middle of their conversation. The boy wonder needed the empath to understand, though. "Besides, Kid Flash is staying here, and she isn't willing to go anywhere without him. It's like she glued herself to him…" he murmured quietly, casting his eyes away from his team mate for a moment.

When Robin looked back, Raven's shield of stone did not look cracked. "Why does it have to be me who trains Jinx?" she queried with a snap. It was clear that the girl was unhappy with the two new presences in the tower already, and close contact with either of them too soon would become another Terra case.

Robin sighed, knowing full well that Raven was already aware of the reasons, but decided to answer her anyways. "Because you are the only one with experience in magic. You know, hexes and the like. How would I train someone like Jinx with something that I understand almost nothing about. You, on the other hand have had plenty of time to practice, and you always hole yourself up in your room with those books of yours; at least some of them have to be on magic."

The empath put her herbal tea down with a sharp clack, betraying how irked she was, but Robin didn't flinch. He knew that some of those words had probably cut, and although Raven was sensitive to jabs about herself from someone who didn't repeatedly tell jokes, the team leader couldn't feel guilty about it now. He would do what he had to, to get Raven to teach Jinx, and make amends with his best friend later.

"Yes Robin," she said icily, her tone sending spikes of cold shuddering down his spine. "Some of those books _are _on magic."

There was an uncomfortable silence between the two for a minute where the bird couldn't find anything to do but sip his cup of coffee that was rapidly growing cold, and try to avoid Raven's eyes. She had a way of making him feel bad about things that he wasn't supposed to have guilty feelings about. Even if something wasn't his fault, she could make him feel as though it was.

Finally, the masked boy's eyes landed on the purple ones that hadn't left him for all those long seconds. "Look, just do this, okay? I don't care how you train her, but please, for the Titans." His voice had an imploring quality to it that Robin wasn't sure he liked.

Raven clenched her teeth. "Fine. But I train her my way, alright? You don't get to interfere." She told him, challenging him to question her words.

The thought didn't even cross his mind. If he could get Raven to train Jinx, then he would readily agree to any terms that she set out for him. "Done." He told her, nodding his head. "Start as soon as possible please." And he walked out of the room without looking back, relieved to get away from Raven for the moment; she wasn't acting like herself.

Raven's gaze followed her leader's back all the way out of the room and into the hallway. She sat completely still before reaching down and picking up the newspaper again, skimming the article she had been previously reading to find her place.

---

Jinx walked into the common room beside Kid Flash, grinning hugely as she did. That seemed to be her expression most of the time nowadays. Always smiling, always happy. She suspected that it was because she could spend so much time with Kid Flash now, and she didn't have to worry about taking care of anyone else like she did in the Hive Five. Everyone here could think for themselves.

Kid Flash sped over to the cabinets, opening and closing them almost immediately, looking for something to eat. He finally found what he was looking for, and turned around, smiling at Jinx. "Want a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?" he asked her. "I make the best." He wiggled his eyebrows.

The bad luck witch smiled and joined him in the kitchen. She grabbed a butter knife and took the peanut butter jar from her friend. "I'll make it myself. But I'm sure we could find somewhere to eat it together." A side glance at her companion showed that he thought the idea inspired.

A slight chill blew through the room and the black magic of Raven appeared in the middle of the tiled floor. Her form solidified, and she stepped out easily, readjusting her cloak around her body. A small look of distaste crossed her face as she saw who was in the kitchen, but it was hidden almost as soon as it appeared.

Kid Flash had jumped when the empath had appeared in the room. "Jeez Rae, use doors why don't you?" he told her, staring at the witch.

For his effort to start a conversation, the speedster got a glare from Raven. She considered telling him that he was _not _allowed to call her Rae, but decided against it, and went straight for Jinx, who had ignored her from the minute she had felt the cold and pressure of magic. The girl was used to it.

"Jinx," Raven growled.

Jinx turned around, her sandwich half finished in one hand and the knife in her other hand. Her eyes widened in shock. Raven was actually starting a talk with her? That was new, since the girl was quite aware that Raven did not like her in the least.

"What is it?" she asked, catlike eyes trained on her magic counterpart.

"I'm to train you, since we are both the ones who know something about magic. We start today, since I want this to be finished as soon as possible, so meet me in the training room in ten minutes." With another wave of cool air and a swirl of black power Raven disappeared.

Both teens stared at where she had just been. Jinx turned to Kid Flash, confused. "Is she always so blunt?" she asked, forgetting about her sandwich.

Kid Flash shrugged. "I know as much about her as you do." He paused. "But you don't need training. You can already do magic and everything like that. Why would she need to train you?"

Jinx shrugged. "I don't know. But I wouldn't want to get her angry, would you?" the girl put down her unfinished lunch. "We'll have to do this another time, okay?" her pink eyes met his blue ones. "I promise."

The boy grinned in a very primal way. "I'll hold you to that." He assured her with a wink. The witch laughed and waved before walking out of the kitchen and through the sliding doors that lead to the hallway.

---

She stood at the door, studying the place before she ventured inside. It was the first time she really ever got to look at the training room, and she wanted to take it in. It was a very big room. There were mats covering the floor, and punching bags hanging from the ceiling. All manner of gym equipment was there; dumbbells, bench presses, treadmills and more. There were machines that she had never seen before, and guessed that Cyborg had invented them himself. On one side there was something that looked like an obstacle course. Mirrors lined one wall from floor to ceiling, and weapons were stacked neatly together, some of which she had seen Robin use against her. There were even a few shelves with an iHome, a CD player and a few CD cases lying on them.

Jinx entered the training room wearing a black tank top and purple shorts that were a bit too short to be modest. However, she wanted to have as much freedom of movement as possible, and the bad luck girl had never been one to be self-conscious. Her pink hair, instead of in its usual do, was pulled up into a ponytail, more practical, while still keeping it out of her face.

Looking around, she noticed Raven sitting on a bench wearing a tank top as well, but hers white, and a pair of black shorts. What surprised her was that there were a few piles of books surrounding her. The empath had one on her lap and was reading studiously.

Jinx approached her silently, and the girl didn't look up. "Come here," she said coldly, turning another wafer-thin page of the volume.

Once Jinx had sat down in front of her on the floor, Raven closed the tome and looked up. "How much to do you know about magic?" she asked, very straightforward. "Not just about bad luck, but anything. Tell me everything." She looked into her new team mate's eyes.

Jinx pondered for a minute before answering. "I know a lot about bad luck. I know some protection spells, and a few defensive and offensive spells. I've tried out a few black magic things, but that's it really. All I ever needed to know was the bad luck ones."

As she spoke to her new teacher, she noticed that Raven's hands and wrists were wrapped, so the girl proceeded to do that same, making sure that the knots were secure by tugging on them before looking back up at the empath.

Raven's face was blank, and Jinx found it impossible to tell what she was thinking. She fingered a book nervously. Pulling it towards her, the girl read the title. Curses and Counter Curses. She raised an eyebrow.

Raven began to speak. Jinx looked back up at her. "You're going to show me what you've got. And we're going to be having actual physical movement, so this isn't going to be like a normal fight you would have. This is a magic spar,"

Jinx would have chortled at how ridiculous that sounded, but Raven's face showed that she was not in the mood. The empath obviously did not want to be there, and Jinx was starting to feel as though she could relate. She hadn't liked the bird when they were enemies, and she didn't like her any better now. She was so icy towards herself and Kid Flash. The attitude did nothing to soften the resentment.

So Jinx opted for nodding and she stood up fluidly, lightly brushing imaginary dust off her ass. She looked at Raven expectantly, realizing that she was looking forward to a fight with someone. That aspect of her hadn't been beaten away by Kid Flash. She was still partially a villain. The thought made her grin.

The empath eyed her sparring partner and rose to her feet. A hair tie seemed to appear out of nowhere and it went to her hair, pulling it back easily before keeping it up and out of Raven's eyes. Jinx's own eyes followed the motion, wondering what about it fascinated her so much. It was nothing unusual.

Perhaps it was the methodical way that Raven seemed to do it, just as she did everything else. It was thought through and had a purpose. Nothing was ever done on instinct. Although Jinx wasn't one to sit around a lot and watch people, she was moderately observant. Had to be, to become a girl on the wrong side of the law. She had noticed things about her new roommates.

Each had their own little quirks, but Raven had been hard to place. Everything the empath did was even and there was always a reason for it. That caused her to jump around in the categories in Jinx's mind. Was she organized, or self-conscious, or perhaps even obsessed? It was difficult to tell.

A motion of Raven's hand jerked the witch out of her thoughts, and she saw that it had a remote in it. Music clicked and whirred on to begin playing a song that Jinx didn't recognize. It was slow, acoustic guitar that she had never guessed Raven would listen to.

"Stretch," she instructed Jinx, rolling her own neck and shoulders as she did so.

Jinx obeyed. She started with her neck, as Raven had, and worked her way down her body in a very thought-out, mechanical pattern. The way that she could do this without thinking or needing to focus resulted in a relaxed and partially unaware Jinx by the time they were finished.

That is, until Raven switched music to a song that Jinx immediately knew, and snapped her out of her daze. It was 'Out of Control' by Hoobastank, and she found herself smiling at the thought that Raven might have the same tastes in music as she did.

Of course, as soon as the purple eyes met her pink ones, Jinx was reminded that the two didn't like each other, and she wiped the smile off of her face as quickly as it had come.

Raven shook out her limbs a bit and explained to Jinx, "Any type of magic is allowed. Hand-to-hand is acceptable, if you can get that close. No other weapons can be used. This is for me to feel out what you know, so…" she paused and a slight shudder rippled through her body, but she continued anyway, "… try to show off."

Without giving Jinx time to draw in another breath, the empath flicked both her wrists, sending everything that was movable flying to the edges of the room, where they piled up against the walls.

Another movement of her pale arms and a muttered incantation encased the entire training room in the black magic of Raven's. Jinx's feet were shocked, as the cold soaked into them. She began to bounce on the balls of her feet, if only to try and keep them warm.

Raven turned her entire body, fully facing and paying attention to Jinx for the first time. The music could still be heard through her power, and the bass thudded through both girls' bodies, vibrating in their chests.

Raven's hands balled into fists. "Oh, and try not to break anything." She told her in her monotone, before lunging forward and surprising Jinx into defensive mode.

The witch was nimble, and jumped out of the way, whirling around to face Raven who had taken to the air. Her "enemy" spun around just as quickly and swiped at her with an extension of her black power in the form of a claw. Jinx also dodged that and sent her own waves of pink towards the bird, who easily ducked and swerved.

The gears in Jinx's mind were furiously clinking as she barely avoided being stabbed by the black daggers sent her way. They grazed across her arm, and the feeling was strange. It didn't hurt like a normal injury, but it seemed as though ice stole through her upper arm towards her shoulder at the contact. A glance down saw a tear in the skin, but no blood.

Jinx shot another wave of bad luck at Raven who dived out of the way, and then shot another in front of her, where she estimated the empath to arrive. Unfortunately, the girl had quick reflexes and managed to stop herself before colliding with the spell. Without a second's hesitation she transformed into her soul self and made a beeline for Jinx.

Seeing a large black raven that blended in with the background of the room headed for a collision course with her was not something that Jinx had been prepared for. However, she thought that considering the circumstances, she had handled it rather well.

Jinx crossed her forearms and squeezed her eyes shut. Holding her breath, she focused more than she had ever focused on an incantation before. Her head pounded with noises. The rushing of false wings, the thudding beat of the music and the words chanted in her mind for the spell.

Around her, a crackling pink barrier formed spitting with energy. As soon as this happened, Raven transformed back into herself, but she couldn't stop her body from crashing into the barrier. A cry rose from her lips as the pink energy darted in, stinging at her body until she fell in a heap on the ground.

Jinx gasped, dropping to her hands and knees, eyes still shut tight. That defensive spell had taken more out of her than she had ever imagined it would. She had never been in a fight with only Raven, and in a controlled area. No team mate's to back her up, and no other enemies to distract her. Just the two witches.

Jinx opened her catlike eyes and looked up just in time to catch a bare foot coming straight for her face. A sharp tug pulled Raven up and over Jinx's body, where she landed lightly and rolled back up onto her feet.

Jinx jumped up, still panting slightly, and the two girls went at it with their fists and legs, both on the offensive, and neither being able to gain the upper hand. However, it could be said that Raven was slowly driving her opponent back, her face dead set, steely, but strangely blank. She eyed Jinx's left leg, watching for her opportunity.

There it was. The empath ducked a swift punch and swerved to the left. As expected, Jinx was slow on that side, leaving just enough time for Raven to disappear, leaving Jinx to whirl around, disoriented and attempting to get her bearings back.

Raven reappeared behind the witch and descended upon her back, landing heavily on top of Jinx, who was pinned on her stomach. Raven grabbed both of Jinx's wrists in her hands, pushing a knee down in the middle of her back.

Both girls were breathing heavily, chests rising and falling rapidly. Sweat glistened on their bodies, running into their eyes, but neither said anything.

The music had long since changed songs, and now they listened to the words and music of it, coming back to reality out of their fighting fantasy. It was now the song 'Bodies' by Drowning Pool. It seemed fitting.

Jinx closed her eyes, and said the phrase into the cold, black floor that her stomach was pressed up against. It was a nice contrast to her warmed body. Her face turned down into the mat, words coming out muffled as she spoke them. "Okay… I give."

Only then was the pressure on her back let up as Raven moved away. The dark coating around the training room receded, leaving it feeling stifling hot and strangely empty, even though all the training equipment was piled up against the walls. The empath swiftly moved them all back to their correct places.

Jinx sat on the bench, watching her sparring partner finish this task. Next to her were a towel and a water bottle. Jinx was already using both of hers, the cool beverage washing down her throat, cold enough to be felt in her chest.

Raven joined her, remaining standing. She nudged Jinx's leg with her foot after picking up her towel, draping it around her neck, and unscrewing the top of her water bottle. "Get up," she told the sitting girl. "Sitting down isn't good for you immediately after exercising."

Jinx glared up at her, but did as she was told. The two stood there in silence, drinking their water and occasionally wiping their faces, sometimes even putting their water bottles up to their faces to cool them down. Raven seemed deep in thought, although what her opinions were about those thoughts could not be gauged.

Eventually, the empath began to speak. "We'll keep working. For now, I want you to read up on these spells and the basics of our magic. Feel free to practice, but don't do anything beyond what is in these books." With a flick of her wrist and a muttering of her mantra, three books made their lazy way over to Jinx and landed with a thump in her arms. "We'll come back here the day after tomorrow."

And with that Raven disappeared with all of the rest of the books. Jinx, stared, took one last look around the room, and walked out, leaving the door to bang shut. Two empty water bottles lay on the mats, forgotten.

---

Cyborg was sitting on the couch, not watching T.V. or playing video games for once. The teen was sitting across from Raven, quietly listening to the empath as she spoke about whatever was on her mind. Usually it was Robin who would be seen having quiet moments with Raven like this.

But just because Cyborg and Raven's moments couldn't be seen, didn't mean that they didn't have them.

Jinx registered this as she walked into the room through the automatic doors. She was carrying one of the books that Raven had instructed she read before their next training session together. The girl didn't stop to bother wondering whether she was interrupting anything, but stood before the two, and threw the book down on the cushion in between them.

Both looked up at her in varying degrees of surprise. Cyborg, upon seeing who it was, glanced away from Jinx's face before looking back, the transition so quick that the girl wondered whether he had looked away at all.

"You're making me read beginner's books!" she told Raven heatedly, pointedly ignoring Cyborg's gaze as she spoke to her new mentor.

The dark girl didn't flinch. Her expression was level as she looked up into Jinx's face. "You have to know the basics before you can learn the more advanced things. Your knowledge is patchy. This should smooth it out somewhat."

However, Jinx was not pacified. "I already know all this stuff! I thought you were going to teach me what I needed to know to fight, not re-teach me something I'm sure I can already do. This book is boring me to death." She complained, making no effort to hide it in her voice.


	4. How Things Fell Apart

This was going to be a giant, multi-chaptered epic drama of a sort, with all these relationships and people freaking out all over the place and all coming to terms with their own problems. I have an outline sitting in my room somewhere, hurriedly written out on a legal pad. I want to finish it, I do, but I feel like I wouldn't know how to do it. I don't know. I still really like the beginning and all the ideas that I came up with so. We shall see.

AU where they are all adults with jobs and whatnot. Enjoy!

---

Kori was pulling on one of her shoes when Dick pulled up to her house, stopping in front of the sidewalk and not bothering to pull into the driveway. She dug out the crushed heel of her blue Nike sneaker, grabbed her purse and sprinted out the door, slamming it shut behind her.

Worried blue eyes met her terrified green ones as she hopped into the passenger side of the car. Without waiting for her to buckle her seat belt, Dick took off, slamming his foot down on the pedal and swerving out into the street. Kori did not scold him for such behavior; it was to be expected after finding out that one of their best friends was now lying in the hospital, unconscious, and barely clinging to life.

She herself was clutching the strap of her purse so tightly that it was a wonder she didn't wear completely through the leather on that drive to the hospital. It was one of the longest car rides that she had ever been subject to in her entire life.

The two screeched into the parking lot haphazardly and nearly bowled each other over in their attempts to get inside the building. The informant at the desk had calmly told them where to proceed to, looking as though he had to deal with people in this state of horror often.

After skidding to a stop and turning right down another white hallway, Kori stopped, hands on her knees and panting hard. After a few moments she looked up to see a few chairs on one side of the hallway and glass windows on the opposite side.

A familiar tousled head was standing with both hands pressed against the glass, limbs only slightly shaking at the sight inside of the room that he was observing. Kori straightened up and joined him to look, fearing what she was about to see, but needing to see it anyways.

A few seconds later, Dick arrived, having always been slower than Kori when it came to flat out running. The three people stood staring, unable to believe their eyes, yet equally unable to look away.

"What... what happened?" Dick finally dredged up the courage to ask, blue eyes ice chips as he stared nearly unblinkingly into the sterile, bland room in front of him.

Gar, the third of the party, didn't tear his eyes away either. "Apparently..." he had to swallow before continuing, "Vic was driving along a cliff side road and some maniac decided to drive himself off the cliff as an... as an attempt at suicide." A choked up pause. "Vic was just coming around a tight turn, they couldn't even see each other, and the other guy's car smashed right into the side of his. Both of them went flying off the side of the cliff..."

Kori's eyes grew wider at this, and a hand went up over her mouth. The redhead looked as though she might throw up, as a distinctive green tinge was coloring her features.

Gar scrubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand. He swallowed again, audibly. Dick also looked faintly sick, although it was clear that an anger was bubbling up underneath the initial shock stage that Gar hadn't quite gotten over yet. Kori was simply letting her tears fall and trying to calm herself with deep breaths.

Victor Stone, friend of all three spectators was lying prone in the hospital bed, close knit bedspread lying over his body, eyes closed and machines beeping mechanically in the background. There were many cuts and bruises forming from what they could see, but a vicious one was down the left side of his skull that looked as though it might have been crushed in, and a split chin. One of his hands was quite obviously broken, bent as a disgusting angle, and the other was badly beaten up. His breathing was shallow, too shallow, and looked as though it would have been extremely painful, had he been conscious, each time he drew air into his lungs. They didn't know the specifics, but it was clear that there wasn't much anyone could do for him, even if they proceeded to surgery.

How? How could this happen to them, to their friend, Victor Stone? Why Vic? Why not someone else?

Kori took a deep breath again, held it, and let it out in the form of a question. "Where is Rachel?"

Gar shook his head. "She was finishing up a surgery, so she should be here soon." he answered quietly.

The reason that the three had been informed so quickly of Victor's accident was that Rachel worked at the hospital, and she had heard when a new victim came in. It had been awful hearing the news, but it had been even worse calling the three of them and passing the information on.

Just as they were finishing this exchange of words, shoes were heard pounding and in another moment a figure came barreling around the corner. She managed to stop herself before she smacked into Dick, but only just barely. The petite young woman breathed quite harshly for a minute or so before composing herself. Soon she was back to her usual, calm visage, although it could easily be seen that it was cracked. Her hands were damp from recently washing them, and she was sill dressed in her surgeon's scrubs, but had remembered to remove her mask and gloves.


	5. Pining and Whining

One of my favorite crack pairings-I want to share it with the world, and cross my fingers that someone else loves it too. Another AU with a lot of rich kids, private schools, fancy parties and almost too much Wally West. Almost. ;) Enjoy.

* * *

"Hey there, beautiful. Why so upset?" asked a smiling voice from behind her.

Kori spun around quickly, surprised that someone had been able to come up behind her unnoticed. She quickly took in the appearance of the young man who was the source of the voice, and her shock. He had the feeling about him like he hadn't been all that tall, but had sprouted up all of a sudden. He was quite lean, but with a hint of muscles underneath the suit that he was wearing. He sported a shock of red hair to rival her own, and a jaunty, brilliantly white smile that warmed her from the inside, but not in a way that made her want to smack it off his face like that horrible Xander.

The girl would grudgingly admit to herself that he was attractive, almost too attractive to be allowed. But his self-satisfied smirk rubbed her the wrong way, and his unbearable attitude made him impossible to stand for more than thirty seconds. But she was getting off track; the point was, this man's smile was happy, perhaps slightly teasing, but not arrogant. However, if this was a battle of grins, Kori was sure to win; she had been complimented more than enough times on her pearly whites and harbored no illusions of how bright her own smile was.

Kori had been using the time to examine him, before realizing with a slight blush that she had been asked a question. It took her another few moments to remember what it was, but when she did her smile lost a few molars. He must have been watching her for a while, to have seen that she wasn't in the happiest condition she could be. The girl's eyebrows drew together in thought, and, not wanting to be rude, she answered the man, but not his question.

"I have not seen you here before," she commented, settling herself for a conversation, even though a small voice in the back of her head scolded her for turning away from her previous source of attention.

The young man ignored her for a moment, glancing past her shoulder, "Ah, well, you know Dick." He grinned, catching her green eyes with his clear blue ones. "He's got to invite anyone that he's ever known to these parties; probably because Dick is bored as anything at these shindigs, and he's hoping that someone _somewhere _will be able to free him from his misery. I only know him through my uncle, because my uncle knows Bruce. We've gotten along alright, but you know, never really talked all that much."

A part of her knew that he was rambling. She didn't think that she had ever known anyone who talked this much, except for perhaps Garfield, but Gar never _stopped _talking. She herself was quite a bit of a chatterbox, but she never continued on aimlessly. There was always some sort of reason behind it, whether she was distracting someone, or herself, or she just felt comfortable enough around the person that she could let her thoughts go and say them all out loud without being afraid of any repercussions. So perhaps it should have occurred to her that there would be some reasoning behind his rambling, but she was too busy letting herself relax. A smile, a real one, crawled its way onto her face before she could stop it.

Recognition sparked in blue eyes and his grin took on the butter-melting quality that he reserved for a few, very special things. He nodded behind her to where Dick himself was chatting with a group of people his own age. Three of them were girls, and at least one of them was getting far too friendly with the young man. It wasn't clear whether he liked the attention or not, because although he was laughing and _seemed _like he was having fun, he was also at a social event, and his smile could be too plastic and his laugh could be too loud. "So, how do you know Wayne Junior over there?"

Kori giggled. "He and I attend the same school. We take some of the same classes together, and he is quite friendly and intelligent." As she said this, her eyes drifted back to him and regained that distant look that she had in the beginning that had caught his attention yet disturbed him so much. It didn't look right on a girl who let off such an air of being cheerful. Once her gaze was off of him, however, it evaporated and he let out a breath of relief. "What is your name?" she questioned, noticing that he hadn't offered it up.

"Wally West." He stuck out a hand to her. She took it and firmly shook, feeling the calluses underneath her grasp, a sure sign of a man who worked. She relaxed immediately, sighing. It was somehow easier for her to speak with someone who could work with their hands.

"Kori Anders," she told him, nodding.

Wally winked at her. "A gorgeous name for a gorgeous girl. You're not from around here, are you?"

Kori was taken aback, "No, I am not. I lived in South Africa until I was twelve, but I have thought that my accent is mostly gone by now. Not many people point it out anymore." A glance up at him through her eyelashes. "I am surprised that you said something about it, no one has asked me about it since I began taking classes at college."

Wally shrugged genially. "Well, I'm too nosy for my own good. I'd love to hear some stories about Africa."

"And I would enjoy telling them to you."

Eyebrows rose towards the red hairline and the grin widened. "Well, there's no point in standing still if we're going to be talking. How about you grace me with a dance while you let me know if South Africa is _really_ like what we hear across the ocean." Kori giggled again, and, instead of responding with words, took the offered hand.

"Come on, Kor," he said, waggling his eyebrows.

The young woman shook her head, leaning back in her chair and smiling playfully at him over the rim of her Styrofoam cup. Wally sighed dramatically and copied her movements, looking around. The two were sitting companionably at a café. The summer sun beat down on their umbrella over the table, and Wally kept fidgeting, trying to make sure that he didn't sit too long in a spot that had been baking in the heat. Other college students had the same idea, basking in the relief of summer vacation before they had to go back to school. Children much younger than they sped along on skateboards and bikes, yells echoing long after the kids themselves had disappeared.

There was a homey feel to the place. Colors were bright and noises were loud, but not enough that you were distracted. Just enough to have some white noise in the background that told you the community was right there as well. Wally wasn't originally from Jump City, but he wished that he was; Kori at least had seemed to have a good childhood (or, as much as she could with Kom as a sister), after she moved here from Africa.

Wally pretended to be wounded, placing a hand over his heart. "I come all the way out here to spend part of my summer vacation with you, and you're _denying _me?" He opened the closed blue eyes and gave her a look that she knew well. "You know it'll be fun."

And she couldn't help it; Kori laughed. "Fun it may be, but you have been asking me out ever since I met you, and I still have not agreed to go on a date. What makes you think that I shall agree this time?" She took another sip of her coffee and leaned her head back over her chair, cascades of red locks flowing down. Wally drank in the sight of her for a minute, adoring the way that the sun shone off of her golden skin. He followed the line of her neck with his eyes as it arched back, up to her jaw line. He swallowed and shook himself, making sure that by the time his friend looked back he had an easy smile on his face.

"Maybe the fact that Dick's found himself _another_ girl, and it still isn't you." Green eyes looked sharply at him, and all of the warmth had suddenly been sucked out of the afternoon. Wally winced, realizing the impact of what he had just said. But he had already started; there was no point in stopping now. "Are you going to wait around your whole life for Dick to finally wake up and see what an amazing girl is right in front of his nose? Shouldn't you try and be happy without needing that short over-gelled idiot to 'complete you' like you girls say?"

There was a stunned silence from the other side of round table before Kori's eyes narrowed at him. She reached over and snatched his cup of coffee away with a look that clearly said 'you can buy your _own_ cup of coffee'. Wally watched with wide eyes as she chucked it over the railing, hitting some poor kid on a scooter in the back. The other customers started staring at the pair, mouths open and bites of food halfway there. Kori was too angry to be embarrassed, but Wally had no such problems, and began to flush a deep red.

Kori had a ridiculously strong arm, and that kid was off the scooter, bent over in something that had to be pain, with other children gathered around, most of them also bent over, but in laughter that carried over the street to the café. The young woman grabbed her purse and stormed off, leaving Wally sitting there, contemplating his place in the universe. A few minutes later he saw Kom's blue car, which he had convinced her that they could borrow for the day, screech out along the street and drive off. "And that was definitely my ride pulling away without me." He hung his head forward and clenched his fists angrily.

"Way to go, Wally West. She definitely _loves_ you now."


	6. Sidetracked

This would take place after 'Lightspeed' where Kid Flash convinced Jinx to leave. She has since decided that she doesn't want to have anything more to do with him. He doesn't feel the same way. Shenanigans ensue.

* * *

She wasn't quite sure where she was going. It was a dirt road that she had turned onto a while back because she thought that it was a good idea. That had been at least an hour and a half ago. Now her leg muscles were cramping from walking for so long, but turning back would be a waste of energy and time. Plus, she knew that she would look stupid.

There was no one else around but her. The road was very rough, with only one lane, and extremely rocky. A few times she had tripped, quickly righting herself with a pink flush that clashed with her extremely pale face. She would dust her skirt and tug on the hem and try to maintain all of the dignity that she possibly could. That was becoming more difficult as the minutes ticked by.

On either side of the road was nothing. And no, she wasn't kidding. Some dead, yellowing grass that looked more like straw grew in straggling clumps. As far as she could see, all there was were some hills in the distance that didn't look any greener than the scenery around her. Which did nothing to help her current mood.

When she had left Jump, she hadn't really had a plan. The only thoughts running through her head were that she had to leave, and right away. Now she seriously regretted not stopping and thinking out what the hell she was going to do now that she was out of her cage. That was something that she had liked about herself, and never admired at the same time. It was really cool, to be able to say that you could 'wing it'. It was not so cool when your 'winging it' blew up in your face.

And that happened to her a lot.

But especially now, she knew that she couldn't afford to look like an idiot. She didn't like to be made to look stupid in the first place, but now she had an audience. Oh yes. Even though no one was around, she knew he was there. He couldn't not be there.

He left her freaking _signs_.

Jinx glared with all her might at the wooden sign that had been staked into the ground. It was neatly painted, with handwriting that she couldn't believe had come from one of the male species. It was neater than hers, for goodness sakes!

_Jinx, my offer for a lift back into town still stands. When we get there I promise the rooms will be filled with roses, just like the one that you chucked at me the last time I tried to talk to you._

Figures that he would just be starting to sound eloquent, and then insert a word like "chuck" into his message.

The bad luck witch crossed her arms below her breasts and scanned the horizon. She didn't see him, but she didn't expect to. Kid Flash—as his name implied—was a little too fast for even someone like her to catch. Yes, she could admit that to herself. Admitting that fact out loud was a different matter entirely, and not something that was likely to happen any time soon.

He was close by though. She knew from the way the back of her neck kept prickling as though someone was watching. And for once she knew that she wasn't being paranoid; someone really was watching. It was unnerving. And she wanted it to end.

"Will you stop _stalking _me?" she cried to no one. But essentially, it was to someone. Because as soon as the words left her lips, a rush of air blew by her, and a young hero with a slight build and a bright red and yellow outfit was leaning on the sign in a cocky stance, smiling at her.

"You called, my lady?" he asked, eyes twinkling merrily. Jinx didn't know whether it was because he was looking at her (he had expressed some type of interest, although she was a little thrown off by that), or because he loved to torment her.

The second option was the only one that made any sense. Sure, he got her away from the Hive Five. He called her "different". He said that she could "do better". But that didn't mean that he actually cared for her, let alone enough to express an interest in her. No one cared about Jinx, the girl who couldn't do anything but blow things up. No. It wouldn't make _any _sense.

He was very good at tormenting her anyways. Jinx was very suspicious, because he had such a natural talent for it.


	7. Scream

This was my attempt at explaining to myself Beast Boy's character, because you do see a deeper and more thoughtful side of him in the show, but it doesn't get explored all that often. I can't remember where it was going, or what I was really even trying to say, but I do remember that it would put an interesting spin on things if this specific idea was from his POV. Enjoy!

* * *

He had seen it coming. He _always _saw it coming. There was nothing he could do about that.

When something happened, his brain would just click, and the gears would start turning, and everything would just fall into place. It wasn't anything that he could control, or something that he even consciously thought about, but it was there. That shrewd sense of thought itself that haunted him day and night.

Events would turn out the way that he thought, just because he could see through the haze of inferences to the most likely path. He never noticed it when it didn't happen, but when it did, it smacked him in the face and left a scar there.

Sometimes he wondered whether anyone else could see all the marks that littered his features. Mirrors were something that he avoided, because he did not want to be reminded of all the mistakes that he had made along the way.

But this was one mistake that he couldn't take back; one mistake that no matter how much he wished he had said something, it wouldn't turn out any differently. And this time, it mattered that he had kept silent. He had seen it coming, but _he had done nothing_. And now he was reaping his reward.

The shock of it was only, at this moment, beginning to wear off. He knew that right now tears would start to trickle out of a pair of bright emerald eyes. His dark friend had locked herself away from the others in her room; perhaps to deal with this in her own way. She surely wouldn't let herself cry. Cy… he wasn't sure what Cyborg was doing. Probably feeling the need to become the big brother again; he wouldn't be surprised if a knock came on the door sometime soon.

They had all stumbled back to the tower in a daze. Cyborg had nearly run some poor kid over in his haste to get back. The four of them had immediately gone to the computer in the main room, to go after the Villain.

The Villain. It didn't even matter who it was. Was it the Hive Five? Or Mumbo? Perhaps it was Mad Mod trying to pull something. Or even Slade, who had finally defeated the one thing that had always stood in his way.

It didn't matter. Beast Boy didn't _care_. All that mattered was that it had happened, to one of his best friends _on his watch_. In fact, if he thought back to the incident, he couldn't remember who it had been. It was as though his brain had blocked it out, the horror and terror of it.

And the part that he didn't want to see… that one single part kept replaying in his mind. A short, sharp grunt. A body flying back straight into a brick wall back first. A sickening crack as bone met metal and a skull split. The team medic down for the count, not unconscious, but too weak and dizzy to stand, let alone heal someone.

Nobody had been able to get there fast enough.

And he, assuming, and leaving it as he always did, hadn't spoken up. It was a bad habit, the changeling supposed. But now it had progressed beyond that. Now it was a curse, a burden. Beast Boy gripped his hair tightly with his fingers, pulling on the roots painfully. _If only he had said something! _He thought to himself, not for the first time that afternoon.

Not for the first time in his life, either.

His senses were heightened compared to his teammates. Maybe he couldn't feel emotions the way Raven did, but his powers were more tangible, and something that he could rely on. He wasn't about to trust some kind of magic to feel out what someone was thinking right then.

But now he was angry at himself for being able to sense things, furious at being _aware_. He cursed the accident that had brought this upon him. That thought was not the first in his life either.

His sensitive ears twitched involuntarily, ringing with the noises that he had heard. Moans and groans as he was hurt and tossed around. He could still smell the blood, metallic and utterly nauseating in his nose. He could _see _it in mind's eye. Every fiber of his being, even when he had been only just turning around to watch in horror as it happened, had been in sync with the frantic panic in someone else and one's self when they instinctually know that they are going to die.

And he lived it with him, through the senses that tingled in his being. It was one of the most terrible things that he had ever had to go through.

Beast Boy could only imagine what Starfire had gone through; or Raven, for that matter, being an empath. She must have lived his death as the changeling had, only through her own, and Robin's, feelings. Like being torn apart at the seams from the inside. The changeling shivered; he had no desire to go through anything remotely like that in his life.

He had his own demons to deal with.

A shocked silence had resonated after that. The heroes, the stunned denizens of Jump City, even the Villain. Eyes grew wide, then narrowed viciously, or settled in a smug expression. After the last echoes of nothingness faded away a roar of fury shredded the air.

The three superheroes still standing, even if dangerously wounded pounded their enemy back, back, back. It took a surprisingly short amount of time… or not so surprisingly short, as their tears of rage fueled them. Once they were sufficiently subdued, the team whirled around to find a Raven, still seeing spots, in front of their leader.

Beast Boy remembered his heart jumping into his throat- he remembered feeling it beating there, incredibly fast, but somehow not fast enough. Judging from the others' expressions, he was not alone.

Even in her disoriented state, Raven was the one to pull herself together the fastest. Her amethyst eyes bored holes into her friends. No salty tears glistened in her eyes, but Beast Boy wasn't worried about that now; he stored the information in a compartment of his brain for examination later.

"He needs to be taken to the hospital," she had said to them.


	8. Pale Girls

I still really like this idea. Maybe I'll finish it one day.

* * *

Elation was floating around the room. And you didn't have to be an empath to feel it. You could see it on everyone's faces, in the way that they walked, the way that they talked, laughed and even cried from happiness.

Because it was over. Beast Boy was not naïve enough to think that it would be peaceful forever, but he wasn't so cynical as to think that he shouldn't enjoy the moment while it lasted. It wasn't just he who was celebrating their success either. Everyone who was currently residing in the tower was feeling the confidence and relief that they had won.

Being only the morning after the defeat of the Brotherhood of Evil, no one was inclined to be leaving the West Tower any time soon. The peace and safety that was felt when surrounded by your fellow heroes was suffocating, yet welcome. All were relishing it, and didn't want to give that up.

By the time Beast Boy entered the control room, it was nearly ten thirty, and almost everyone was up. It seemed packed, and he stumbled back into the closing automatic doors with surprise, having forgotten that they were all here. In a moment, however, he had adjusted, and a grin slowly spread its way onto his face contentedly. He remembered how they had kicked the Brotherhood's ass.

He totally deserved to be smug.

There were too many people to count, but the green changeling could pick out groups of superheroes lounging against the walls, exploring the tower, ea ting breakfast, talking of taking part in a super-giant-awesome-video-game-contest-of-DOOM that Cyborg had organized and was now overseeing authoritatively.

A gurgling noise shocked him out of his observation trance. He glanced down as the growls grew louder, informing him that it was definitely time for the ingestion of some food. He patted his stomach lovingly, and began making his way through the crowds, over to the kitchen where he knew a tofu bacon breakfast would be waiting for him.

High fives, grins and simple hellos were all exchanged during his jaunt across the room. His green eyes took in everything, making note of any unhappiness in the room and resolving to fix it. Luckily there was none; how could there be, after that kickass fight that they had won just yesterday?

Yes, he was still smug. Deal with it.

Passing the counter, he overheard part of a conversation between Speedy and Kid Flash. The two had somehow found each other, as though magnetized, and connected immediately, being so alike in some ways. All that anyone had heard coming out of their mouths after the fight had been won (and they had made sure that everyone was safe) was either about the "ownsome fighting" they had done, or girls.

Right now, it was the latter.

"There are so many of them!" exclaimed Speedy, his masked eyes glancing around the room with expectation. "Who knew that there were so many hot chicks as heroes? All I get to look at is Bee, and sometimes that's not even worth the pain she brings if she catches you."

The other redhead nodded in agreement. "Jinx is great and all that, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate some of the babes who walk around here in those tiny outfits. I mean, have you taken a look at Starfire?"

The archer whistled lowly, grinning. "Hell yeah! That girl's legs go on forever; I could stare at her and never get bored. And if her abs weren't showing, man would we be missing a sight!"

Kid Flash nodded, once again casting his gaze around. His blue eyes stopped to soak in Kole, looking endlessly cute with her pink hair, before settling back on Star, whose back was turned to him as she talked to Jericho, and blatantly staring at her.

Beast Boy shook his head, smiling, as he opened the fridge and looked inside the door. There was no way that his friend wouldn't know the speedster was looking, but the alien princess thought the best of everyone. No doubt she didn't even care that the fastest boy alive was staring at her hungrily; the changeling had learned through the years that Tamaranians seemed to have no sense of modesty.

As the young hero got out a frying pan, nudging aside another one that was cooking Robin's food, he couldn't help but hear more of the conversation between the two redheads chatting at the counter behind him. His ears perked up and he listened intently, mentally preparing to feel amused.

"Speaking of girls, look at those three. Of course they would find each other; three Goths in one room, how could they not?"

Intrigued, Beast Boy glanced around, searching for the source of that opinion. After a minute of looking, he found them. Raven, Jinx and Argent were lounging on the couch together (or at least, in Jinx and Argent's cases. Raven never "lounged".), having somehow been magnetized to each other. When Jinx and Raven had first been put into a room together, they had nearly torn each other's hair out. Over time, however, once they had gotten over their long-standing grudges, the two had come to find that they had plenty in common, and they clicked. Argent, of course, got along with everyone, and she was welcomed into their group with open arms.


End file.
